Back from LV

Last week I was work bound in Las Vegas for the bike industry tradeshow. Essentially another place to see all my friends and people in this circus like life. I traveled a day early to have Tuesday to enjoy the dirt demo out in Boulder City, NV. Eric and I met up with Kenny and Bill from Placid Planet Bicycles for some test ride some offerings from various bike companies. Although I love my Kona, I still believe that Cannondale makes a great bike too. The Scalpel I rode was real nice dually race bike. The Lefty fork is one of the best forks out there.

The bike show is draining from all the walking and talking to sponsors. Add the "nightlife" and it becomes a non-stop three days of serious business and play. Hopefully all the work opens some doors and solidifies some of our sponsors support.

With wall to wall bike geeks in every aisle (myself included) you may find my answer to the question of "what was the coolest thing" surprising. The best thing at the show was the CLIFF BAR booth. Not because they make a great food product but because of what they are promoting. Hats off to my pal Jon Robichaud who had a hand in obtaining a 1959 travel bus in which CLIFF converted into a traveling education center to promote the "2 mile challenge." Check out the website and what it stands for because it is worth knowing about and something we can all do. A way to get people to make a small change in their lives that can have a HUGE impact on climate change. 40% of urban travel in the U.S. is trips under 2 miles (and 90% of those trips are by car). By committing to use a bike for those short trips we can make a difference.

http://www.2milechallenge.com/home.html


The Fossil Fool. Part of CLIFF's road is this musician who powers his show with human power only from the generating bike. You can see the bus in the background. A band can play on the top platform. At the show, some employee's jammed a little in addition to Fossil Fool and the Ginger Ninjas.

For the first time this year they had a cyclocross race held in conjunction with the bike show. I think it was a huge hit. Tons of loud fans. Great riders with several lead changes throughout the race.


That's in for now. I have an extremely busy week following up with Interbike stuff and getting ready for the trip to Hawaii for world championships. I also will begin moving in to my new apartment which won't take that long because I don't have much to move in anyways. But there is very little time for even that.

Cheers,
DOUG